Akshay Kumar and Sunny Deol made their big-screen debuts one year apart. For the longest time, the two competed for the title of the best action hero in the film industry. In a recent interaction, Sunny was asked what he thought about Akshay Kumar being promoted as ‘Khiladi Kumar’ and as the action hero of that era, while he wasn’t given due credit for his contributions.
Speaking to Zoom, Sunny shared that he felt many actors — without naming anyone — copied his style and rode on his hard work to climb the career ladder. He said, “When I used to hear these things and I used to watch the films, I saw that actors copying my work and my style and go forward in his life. What happiness did they gain from doing this? I worked with all honesty, and I didn’t think that this picture has this scene, so let’s copy it. I was always against copying directly from other films and refused such ideas.”
He added that thanks to OTT platforms and newer viewing formats, audiences are now beginning to recognise his true potential. “I exist because of the new format which have come out and this generation have got the chance to see the reality,” he said.
Sunny also opened up about the existence of camps in Bollywood and how the Deol family eventually decided to launch their own production house due to being sidelined by people in the industry. Sunny recalled that during his father’s time, Bollywood was like a family but things went downhill after that. He said, “This was the reason we started our own production and started making our own films. That’s the reason we introduce Bobby Deol and Abhay Deol and other new actors through our company.”
For the unversed, Sunny Deol’s debut film Betaab was bankrolled by their own production house, Vijayta Films Pvt Ltd. Bobby Deol’s debut film Barsaat was also produced by the same banner, and Abhay Deol’s debut Socha Na Tha too was launched under the family’s production label.
Despite putting in their best efforts, Sunny admitted facing loses as a producer. He said, “Eventually, I became the director and I started to do everything but things weren’t falling in place. But now I’m not producing anything and it took me 13 years to realise that I am not a good businessman.” When asked that he lost a lot of money in his production ventures, the actor said people make and lose money but it’s best to accept it as an experience and not regret it. “Just move ahead,” he added.
